Balance
by broken soldier
Summary: Elyse and Lyla have been squadmates since before the Great War, and before the Fall. They awoke from their cryopods together, and have remained close since. But Elyse is experiencing some odd, and rather worrying changes... Rated M for excessive gore
1. 1:Silence,Showoffs,and Strange Behavior

The metal grate made contact with the ground in the form of a loud _*clang!*_, the sound going unheard to all but those who created it. Shortly after was a muffled thud as a small figure met the metal plated floor, appearing from the vent that the grate originated from. The woman, as the form was obviously female, wore a peculiar set of armor, black chitin-like plates covering her body from head to toe, with a large crest adorning her helmet. On her back sat a seemingly primitive weapon. Easily distinguishable as a bow, ancient and long-proven weaponry from Earth, it's surface was covered in a pitch black alloy, with a string, drawn taught, that glowed the faintest red. The weapon was adorned with several points of light, also red in color, pulsing with a hidden power. The quiver fastened to her back held several three foot long arrows, black such as the bow, with bloody red tips that pulsed, not unlike a dying heartbeat. Deft hands moved to her thighs in a familiar, long practiced motion, removing small, pointed blades from rather odd pouches on her upper legs. The blades, a dull gray, glinted meanly in the dim lighting of the starship's cramped design, as the female twirled them between her fingers. A ritualistic motion, long ingrained in muscle memory. As she stood to her full height, a pair of short blades glinted brightly on her lower back, signaling two honed daggers, with blackened handles, in keeping with the theme, and blades with an edge that held a faint red glow. She was easily the smallest of the two.

Another thud sounded behind her, signaling the arrival of another form. This one, just taller than the first, had a head adorned with a large crest, and a single horn in the front. The V-shaped visor scanned the room, expressionless and cold. Armored like the first, the second's segmented covering was more akin to metal plates and a tight body suit than the organic chiten-esq covering of the last, it's blue-gray segments covering the wearer quite completely. She, as this form was also quite noticeably female, instead shouldered a much more advanced weapon than the simple bow of the first. Instead, she boasted a long rifle, fit to the same purpose as the bow fastened to the other woman's back. The purpose of a silent kill, quick and clean without alerting any other than the one who's body was in her sights. This however, fired, in place of arrows, small hollow point rounds, yet another old design from the ancient Earth. The rifle was long and weighted, with a bolt action reload system, meaning there was no second chance if you missed your shot. It's large, dark gray barrel was dull and uncaring, reflecting little light, but instead seeming to absorb it. As the woman slung the rifle onto her back and stood to her full height, two exotic machine pistols became readily apparent, clamped to her upper thighs, her gauntleted hands already reaching for them. The strange blue and gray weapons were fed ammo from a large, curved clip at the top of the receiver. In addition, a formidable pole weapon sat on her back, with half crescent blades on either end facing in opposite directions, obviously meant for long, continuous sweeping strikes, it's cold blackened face ready to stare down even the toughest foes. This one, just larger than the first, was an apparent killer.

"Alright let's get this over with.", spoke the first form, twirling a single throwing knife between her fingers absentmindedly.

"Radar shows exactly one-hundred-and-twenty-three targets that need to be eliminated. First to thirty wins?", challenged the second.

"First to thirty wins. ", confirmed the first, nodding her head in agreement.

As the first Twirled the small blade between her fingers, the second shot her hand up, fast as a whip, fist closed. The first woman immediately stopped her toying with the blade and readied a second, knowing to trust the her squad mate. She heard something, and it came from the door. It was several seconds before the first woman heard a thing, but sure enough, a bulky form, heavily armored in dull green alloy plating, a Grineer Lancer, was making his way down the corridor. The Lancer was one of the lowest ranking among the Grineer troops, and were easily expendable. Grineer armies are vast and varied, pouring out of their toxic womb from the Old Earth, generations of invasive cloning damaging their genes beyond repair. One would guess this would make them exceedingly frail, but they have mastered the augmentation of their own bodies, using a combination of technology and organic tissue to not only keep the species going, but to modify themselves into something stronger than what they would have been otherwise. Whether it was make you stronger or smarter, large and strong or small and quick, they could do it. Each grunt was one of thousands just like it, and all had but one purpose. To expand, defend, and push the Grineer Empire forward, by command of the Queens. They overwhelmed in numbers, flooding their enemies with both bullets and bodies until they are conquered.

And now, one of them was heading straight towards their position, yet unaware of their presence. The second woman threw her hands out, a silent green wave of energy spread out before her in all directions, and as it passed, the room fell dead quiet. Grinding gears barely made a sound, and drain pipes, rushing with water, soon fell to a hush. When the wave collided with the lone Lancer, he took no note of it, leaving him helpless. The first woman threw one of her small daggers, impaling him in the stomach, his delayed reaction gave the second woman enough time to level the sights of her rifle as he doubled over, with only a silent click, a single high caliber round pierced his skull with enough force to blow it apart, shards of metal from his face plate bouncing across the room and small chunks of Grineer brains stuck to the nearby wall, the body falling to a heap on the floor with a barely audible thud. There was a dropping sensation in the first woman's inner ear, and sound returned to the room. The gears began clanking away once more, the pipes carrying rushing water from place to place on the ship began their deafening roar once again.

"Dammit I had that one.", complained the first woman.

"Too slow, too low. Too bad, so sad.", mocked the second.

"You Banshees show off too much."

The Banshee Warframe, as she is apparent to be, simply rolled her shoulders in response, then abruptly cocked her head to the side, a barely noticeable nod of her armored head showed the first woman exactly where to aim, and she spun, knife already leaving the grasp for her gauntleted fingers, and spinning into empty air, only to collide with the wall to the sound of a sharp clang, signaling the blade had pierced the surface. Or so one would think, until the Grineer Flameblade fell to the ground from behind a locker on the far side of the room, knife between the eyes.

Warframes. Ancient weapons from the Old Earth. Each augmented and boosted the abilities of the wearer, increasing speed and stamina, allowing the user to run along and up walls, and leap from heights that might kill any normal being and land unscathed. Each Warframe also boasted four unique abilities, which may deal direct damage, or confuse and manipulate the enemy. Still more may be for traversal or escape, or even healing allies, and this particular Banshee had utilized the ability in her arsenal known as Silence. Banshee Warframes work and manipulate sound, bending, muffling, amplifying, or otherwise distorting the waves to their will, and utilizing them in combat. She nodded in the same direction, with just enough of a slight turn in her movement to show the first woman where to aim next, and immediately another knife was sent flying, digging itself into the eye of a distant Grineer Lancer, going clean through his skull, and sticking itself into the floor.

"Perfect aim as always, Elyse.", complimented the Banshee.

"Oh, stop it you! Lyla, you flatter me!", she said in a jokingly embarrassed tone. "If you think that was good, watch this.", the woman flung her hand outwards, and a torrent of small blood red rods shot from her fingers, one for each digit. They swirled around the room for but a second as the two women watched, and suddenly each slung itself into the corridor, colliding with five Lancers going about their patrols, both piercing their bodies and slamming into them with enough force to knock them off their feet. Metal ruptured and cracked, and they hit the unforgiving floor with a loud thud as each bolt hit it's mark.

Elyse, wearing the Nyx Warframe, utilized Psychic Bolts to fire mind controlled daggers of energy to kill nearly every Grineer in the room. Nyx's specialize in mental combat, invading the mind of the enemy, and using psychic abilities to redirect crushing blows and deadly strikes back at the enemy.

"Very nice, very nice. But I don't think you killed that last one."

"Oh? How careless of me.", Elyse remarked, casually throwing yet another knife into the Lancer's neck. As the clone struggled, choking on his own blood while flailing around on the ground, Elyse stepped over him and sat on his stomach, making him gasp. She leaned forward, taking his chin in her left hand and slamming her open palm down on the side of his head with her right. The metal armor of his helmet buckled and caved in, creating an opening between his face plate and the rest of his helmet. She gripped his face covering tightly, and ripped it off, revealing a scarred and damaged man's face. The skin was worn and dry, and blood was pouring out of the corners of his mouth and leaking from his nose. As the soldier struggled to look at her, she reached her other hand up and slowly dragged a single finger down his neck, and circled it around the knife in his jugular. She gripped it strongly, and yanked it out, making him gurgle in pain, a fresh spout of blood gushing from his mouth, with yet more coming from his neck. The clone flailed about for a moment, grabbing at Elyse's shoulders in a weakening panic. After but a moment, his struggles rapidly became weaker, until his arms fell from her shoulders, limp and heavy. As the man's last breath left him, Elyse wiped her knife on his cheek, sheathed it, stood, and began walking, Lyla in tow.

"Well that was... different.", commented Lyla.

"Sorry? I guess I just thought... I don't know. Maybe he just needed a little intimacy to feel better?"

"Little late, considering you stabbed him in the neck."

"Yeah... I wish I hadn't done that. He wasn't too bad looking."

"Really, Elyse? Ew. Did you hit your head or something?"

"Hmm...", hummed Elyse as she knocked on the side of her helmet, imitating coconut sounds with her mouth, "Nope. All seems fine to me."

"You're acting strange..."

"YOU'RE acting strange.", countered Elyse, bumping Lyla with her hip.

"Really. You've never been this... happy.", pointed out Lyla.

"I feel happy."

Lyla stopped cold in her brisk pace, grabbing Elyse by the shoulder. She turned her squadmate to face her, and took her head in her arms.

"Headache?"

"No."

"Nausea?"

"Nope"

"Stomach ache? Dizziness? Lack of balance?"

"Nopety nopety no."

"Okay Elyse would never say that. Who are you and what did you do with her?", asked Lyla with a chuckle.

Elyse simply continued to stand, her helmet showing only the reflection of Lyla's own faceplate. The cold chiten-like plating was emotionless, unforgiving, and blank. The red ring on the front pulsed with energy, but no other movement marked Elyse as anything but an empty suit. She did not shift her weight from foot to foot, her chest did not move with her breath, her hands, which would normally be twirling her throwing knives, were still. After a few moments, finally a sound came from the Nyx.

"I'm fine, Lyla.", she said, the cheery tone leaving her lips. Something was off about it this time. Something that sent a chill down the Banshee's spine. Something undetectable to the ear of any other who did not wear armor not unlike hers, but something monumental nonetheless. Something wrong.

"Come on!", she practically shouted, "We've still got more people to kill!", said the Nyx, grabbing Lyla by the hand and nearly dragging the Banshee behind her. The detail in her tone that had bothered the Tenno so much was gone. Had she simply imagined it?


	2. 2: Into the Belly of the Beast

"Captain. Cell breach on deck three, patrols three through seven haven't checked in."

"Tenno?"

"Unclear. None have called for backup, and all decks are covered. If there was a Tenno aboard, sir, we would have eyes on it."

"Send extra units to decks two through eight."

"Aye, sir."

As the grunt returned to his console, flipping open a comm channel in order to fill out his superior's orders, his captain sat back in his chair, a smug grin plastered on his face, the various apparatus and armor platings adorning his broken body creaking and groaning with every movement. As he settled back, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of worry in the back of his mind. Reports have been pouring in from all over the planet for the past few months of a lone Tenno wreaking havoc. Stealing research data, destroying mining equipment, killing off entire battalions of freshly cloned troops. As an afterthought, he slammed a code into the command console beside him. A small microphone extended down from the ceiling, stopping just in front of the Grineer captain's face.

"Loudspeaker ready, sir. Mic ready for shipwide announcement. Go ahead, captain."

The captain grabbed the microphone, cleared his throat, and began to speak.

"Attention all hands. We have a possible breach of defenses. Extra patrols on all decks. If it isn't Grineer, eradicate it. That is all."

The captain sat back once more, his grin replaced by a scowl at the thought that a Tenno, a single Tenno, could enter his ship undetected. He should have someone reprimanded for that.

* * *

"Captain Vor has lived under suspicion of possessing Orokin technology, that grants him powerful abilities. We cannot allow this, get to his location and eliminate him."

As the comm channel between Elyse and the Lotus closed, her ears rang with the sound of gunshots. Bullets ricochet about the room as grunt fought grunt. She had a mission, of course, but getting to an assassination target is often more challenging than actually eliminating them. Being a Nyx, she excels at manipulation and bending of the mind. The weak psychesof Grineer grunts were little more than dust beneath her heal if she wished. She could make them cower, make them run, make them fight amongst themselves, she could even make them _bleed _if she wanted. Distraction and manipulation are her biggest weapons, and the ones she leans on most often.

As the Lancer kneed his comrade in the stomach, making him double over in pain, Elyse watched absently, as if the scene unfolding beneath her was nothing to gawk at. The lone ranger shot his former ally in the crown of the head while he was down, then proceeded to elbow another in the nose. He fell, caught off guard by the blow, and received a heavy helping of lead into his stomach before he could react. A Grinner Trooper grabbed Nyx's agent by the neck and lifted him into the air before he could cause more damage, and promptly slammed the soldier into the cold floor of the vessel, leaving a Grineer-shaped, bloody dent in the metal plating. The Lancer didn't make a sound, save for a loud crunch, as he died. Then Nyx simply repeated the process. Taking control of the officer's mind this time, she watched as he gave every soldier under his control a shotgun blast to one body part or another. When all was quiet, she fell from her hiding place in the rafters on the ceiling, and patted the soldier, now wounded from a lucky shot by another Lancer, on the head like a well-behaved animal. As she passed, she pointed to the floor behind her. Understanding her intent without an order given, the Trooper stood where he was told and kept watch for his new master.

* * *

"Hmm... That makes forty-eight Lancers, and twenty-three Troopers on this floor alone. Sneaky general must have known I was here. How am I going to do this...", mumbled Elyse to herself as she considered her options, nustled safely away in a vent just below the support beams for the ceiling. Under normal circumstances, she would have simply killed what got in her way, and left the rest to cower. Assassination missions tend to be much more low key if it can be helped. If the target decides to run, it can be very hard to catch up to them, so the general consensus is that better they don't know you're here before your blade is in their back. She could easily take the vents to Vor's position on the ship, except for one problem. Vor was smart and blocked each vent section with a reinforced grate or high-speed fan, and she doesn't have the tools to cut through them. Just as she was ready to go in guns blazing and hope Vor was stubborn enough to stay on the ship, she had an idea.

The Nyx flung her hand outwards, reaching past the metal of the grated vent with her power, taking the mind of a Trooper in her grasp. He doubled over, grabbing his head in confusion. As the man fell to his knee, she slammed her fist into the closed grate in the ceiling, just below her. The impact caused the metal to buckle, and the grate flew to the floor, taking Elyse down with it. She hit the ground stomach and chest first with a loud _thud!_, drawing the attention of every soldier in the room. Guns leveled on her from every angle, ready to fire. As the soldiers steadied their aim on Elys's body, a single Trooper shot his hand up.

"Hold your fire! This is the breach the captain warned us about. You two!", he shouted, motioning his head towards two lancers, "Take her! We bring her to the Captain. The rest of you, escort them, and make sure she doesn't get away. Captain Vor will have our heads on pikes if we screw this up."

As an after thought, the Trooper continued, "And someone get the bridge on the comm and tell them we have an intruder. A Tenno."

Nyx felt her upper arms grabbed by two large hands, another taking firm grasp of the crest of her helmet, using it as leverage to lift her to her knees. The two soldiers began to walk, with the Nyx in hand, dragging her on her knees through the bowels of the Gallion. After some time, the soldier holding her by her left bicep piped up.

"Hey. I bet we can make her 'talk'. It's been a while since we've had such a lovely little lady around...", said the grunt, cupping her chin in his hand. "Nice and fit too. We could probably keep her a while."

"Not even in your dreams, creep."

"Creep?! Why I oughtta...", the Lancer trailed off, leveling the barrel of his Grakata to her head. As he pushed it into her face, the butt of a rifle was forced into his stomach. The Trooper that commanded her capture had slammed his Hind into the grunt, and was grabbing him by the jaw.

"Stay in line, soldier! I have enough things to worry about and I don't need to add you to the list.", barked the Trooper.

"A-Aye sir.', stuttered the Lancer. After the Trooper let him down, he returned to carrying Elyse without question, staying quiet the rest of the march.

* * *

"Captain, Fire Team 6 is requesting entrance to the bridge. They claim they have a Tenno captured, sir."

"Access granted."

The grunt hit a key on his console, and large metal doors slid open with a grinding creak. As the group of Grineer stepped through, Elyse in tow, Captain Vor rose from his chair with an effort. His scowl was once again replaced with a grim smirk as he waltzed towards the incarcerated woman.

"Tenno...", Vor trailed off as he grabbed her by the large crest on her helmet, lifting her off her feet, "You are mine."


End file.
